From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance ran their third show in the promotion’s new home at the Central Elementary Gym in ...
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance ran their third show in the promotion’s new home at the Central Elementary Gym in Carrollton, and a good time was had by almost all.
‘Tis the season for anniversary shows. PWA celebrates their 7th anniversary at their next show on June 20. Universal Championship Wrestling had their anniversary show last night in Temple. Anarchy has their 10th anniversary show in two weeks. Southern Fried Championship Wrestling 2nd anniversary event is the first Saturday in June.
Much like the May 2 SFCW event, last night’s PWA show was a superb lead-in to their anniversary, albeit using a far more economical form that the SFCW show – just four matches with a running time of 2 hours.
If you’re thinking you would feel shortchanged by a show with a measly four matches, think again. The wrestling was solid all night long. The main event was one of the wildest brawls in PWA history. Each segment served a purpose in building towards the big show, and every one of them succeeded.
The company entered the evening with Tama Tonga as the new PWA Heritage Champion. In a highly orthodox move by booker Rick Michaels, the title change did not take place on a PWA show. Instead, Tonga defeated Tyson Dean at the LG/SFCW event in Barnesville on May 9. The storyline reasons for the switch will be apparent as you read on.
Attendance was down to 140, a troubling drop off from PWA’s first two show at Central Elementary which both drew in the range of 250. My gut says this is a seasonal slowdown and not a PWA specific issue. The UIW show in Temple drew a poor house. Anarchy and SFCW didn’t do well at the gate with their latest events either.
Nigel Sherrod opened the show questioning just what kind of friend Rick Michaels was. He reached out to Rick when Rick was at his lowest. Sherrod claimed he didn’t hear zip from Rick when he lost his job at MTV (as play-by-play announcer for Lucha Libre USA). Michaels came out and responded with punch in the kisser and started pounding lumps on Nigel. One by one, Dusty MacWilliams, Dragon (formerly Ultimate Dragon) and Sal Rinauro hit the ring and ate a left fist from Rick. The overwhelming odds took their toll as Rick was subjected to a 4 on 1 beatdown until Ace Haven, Iceberg and the returning Simon Sermon (Rick’s partners in the main event streetfight) cleared the ring.
As Rick headed to the back, he was attacked by the returning Tommy Too Much. Tommy got away before Rick’s partners could their hands on them. Haven said they didn’t have another guy, so the main event would be 4 against 5. Really good stuff. Sherrod was pure slime on the mic. The return of Too Much was a shocking development and the brief skirmish was just enough to wet appetites for the main.
(1) P Dog (Mike Posey) defeated Jeremy Foster to retain the No Limits Championship in 14:41. P Dog did not fare well in the early going, and employed stalling tactics in an attempt to throw Foster off of his game. It worked as P Dog was able to run the overly aggressive Foster into the post. Posey unleashed his offensive arsenal and cut off Foster’s rallies. Posey’s tactics were working just fine and dandy until he sprung off the ropes and nutted himself on Foster’s knees. Foster mounted a full-fledged comeback, forcing P Dog to the ropes with a rear naked choke. P Dog thought he had it won with the Gamebreaker, but referee Triston Michaels thought otherwise. Foster pulled his kneepad down to go for his flying knee finisher. Posey stepped aside. Foster’s knee slammed into the turnbuckle. Posey then used an ace crusher to set up the Alabama Jam for the 1-2-3. Posey’s wigger character is ridiculous but the guy has the wrestling chops to maintain championship credibility.
(2) Fry Daddy defeated Ryan Vega in 12:15. The PWA fans love Fry Daddy’s energizer bunny entrance. Vega is a regular member of the Empire roster seeking to expand his horizons. He was easy to hate. When Fry went for an ill-advised ropes walk, Vega yanked him down, used a baseball slide to send Fry out and posted his shoulder. Vega showed some ingenuity with his work on Fry’s arm, using a hammerlock DDT into a shoulder lock submission. Finish came out of nowhere with Fry catching Vega off guard with the Cutline. Good match. Fry Daddy is coming on strong. Vega did his job well.
P Dog returned to the ring to confront Fry. P Dog said the contract for his title defense against Fry was already signed for June 20, but he wanted to challenge him to a dance contest right now. P Dog dancing revealed a bad case of white man’s disease. Fry’s dance moves totally blew away P Dog’s mediocrity, and received an orgasmic response from the female fans. The voting by fan applause was a forgone conclusion. P Dog slapped Fry and bolted out of the ring. Fry said he beat P Dog in a dance contest and would beat him for the title on June 20. Fry capped off his rhyme with “You’re lookin’ at the king of the VIP, Fry Daddy.” This was entertaining comedy with both performers playing their roles to the max.
Ring announcer Jeremy Boyd announced that Tonga was the new PWA Heritage Champion. PWA’s lack of audio/visual technology hurt them bigtime here. Who the hell is Tonga to the PWA fans? This cried out for a big screen video package to display Tonga’s awesomeness.
(3) Jimmy Rave defeated Geter via submission to become the number one contender for the PWA Heritage Championship in 13:30. The crowd busted out the “Go Jimmy Go” right off the bat. Rave needed all the support he could get, as nothing he did was having any effect on the 400 pound monster. Geter focused his attack on Rave’s back, using high impact whips and backbreakers. Geter’s chops had Rave gasping for breath. Geter applied camel clutch. Rave managed to get to the ropes. More vicious chops from Geter and another knockdown on an Irish whip. Rave finally mounted an all-out comeback that staggered Geter. When Rave went for a sunset flip, Geter tried to squash him, but Rave got out of the way and connected with a Shining Wizard for his only near fall of the match, then switched to a crossface. Geter picked Rave up and broke the hold with a Samoan Drop. Both men were down. Geter used a massive body block to send Rave to the outside. Geter was clutching his shoulder as Rave barely beat the 10 count. After absorbing two freight train corner splashes, Rave looked to have nothing left in the tank. Out of the blue, Rave shocked Geter with the Dusk ‘Til Dawn crossface and Geter was forced to tap. A compelling story of the babyface overcoming long odds. I was wondering if they were going to be able to work into a credible way for Rave to beat Geter and they did.
Al Getz came out to congratulate Rave on very impressive match. “We’re not friends but I can respect a guy making a 6-8 guy tap out.” The shake ups in former champion Tyson Dean entourage continue. Brooklyn Page and Akbar Shabazz are nowhere to be found. Getz is Dean’s “investor”. Getz informed Rave that his title shot on June 20 wasn’t going to happen because his lawyers were exercising a clause to get Dean his rematch instead. Getz invited Rave to buy a ticket to watch Dean beat Tonga, and said Rave wasn’t fit to carry Dean’s jockstrap. Rave was seeing red, and Getz got the hell out of there just in the nick of time. So Rave gets screwed out of his shot, and by putting the title on Tonga, Dean has a formidable babyface to go up against (and presumably beat) at the anniversary show.
(4) Tag Team Streetfight: Sal Rinauro & Nigel Sherrod & Dragon & Dusty MacWilliams & Tommy Too Much defeated Rick Michaels & Simon Sermon & Iceberg & Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) in 15:39. 15 minutes of utter pandemonium. It was a three ring circus at all time. The intensity never let up. The babyfaces were romping and stomping. There was always something going on in the ring, and brawls were breaking out everywhere. The variety of weapons was awe inspiring – a noose, a kendo stick, a coat hanger, a plastic baseball bat, a large quantity of mustard, a staple gun, numerous chairs, a bag of tacks, and Shane Noles’ Chamber of Commerce plaque. I’ll hit a few of the high points. Amy and Ace teamed up to give Rinauro a crotch ride on the kendo stick. Ace gave Sal a kendo stick Russian legsweep ala Sandman. Sermon (dressed to the nines for the occasion) blinded Sherrod with glitter. Iceberg and Ace were wearing MacWilliams (covered in mustard) out with chairshots. TTM did a diving headbutt to Sermon’s groin. Rick applied the staple gun to Dragon and TTM’s respective nutsacks. Sal gave Ace a hangman neckbreaker in the bleachers. Iceberg gave MacWilliams a belly to belly suplex into the tacks. As Rick was going for the Double Shot on MacWilliams, Dusty caught him with a low blow and clobbered him with the plaque to score the pin. Man this match was fun to watch.
The heels were about to powerbomb Rick into the tacks when out came Stupid to a monster pop. If there was ever an improbable babyface, Stupid is that guy. He returned to PWA at the previous show as a humbled man. Stupid declined Rick’s offer to join his side in the streetfight stating that he wasn’t worthy. Rick said he would find someone else. That someone turned out to be Sermon. Seeing Sermon advertised was the impetus for Too Much to show back up tonight. But I digress. Stupid said he turned down Rick’s offer because he knew he couldn’t win, and the bad guys were simply better so if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Stupid got in the ring to admit defeat…and cracked MacWilliams over the head with a kendo stick. The heels hit the road. Michaels said the sides were now even, and announced War Games for June 20 to a huge pop of approval.